James "Quick" Tillis

[kaiserbill]

As said on the Johnny Du Plooy thread, this guy was one of my favourites back in the 80's.

Nice fluid style, good boxing skills.

Always thought he didn't pack a punch, but others on the other thread have pointed me toward some of his opponents comments saying he didn't actually lack power.

I do know that he tended to run out of puff in a lot of his fights, and get lethargic, as well as in his training.
Apparently, he was diagnosed relatively late in his career as having allergies to certain foodstuffs which brought on the lethargy.
An interesting topic that, but perhaps for another thread.

He fought big names, and was a serious contender, and fought for the WBA heavyweight championship, losing to Mike Weaver over 15 rounds.

Later, he travelled extensively, and was considered a great name to have on you resume. No easy fights against The Cowboy.

Also always struck me as a gentleman.

Anyway, a lot of his fights went the distance, or the later rounds, so perhaps this thread is definitely for the purist.

Start it off with Tillis vs Thomas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJBokByaqSI

[kaiserbill]

Tillis needed to win this one against Thomas.

Previously, he was undeafeated until he met Weaver for the WBA championship, so he had a pretty good record going into that fight. Unfortunately, he lost against Thomas.

Earlier, he had taken Weaver to 15, as mentioned, and also beaten Earnie Shavers.

After the Pinklon Thomas fight, he seemed to lose to all the big opposition, or up-and-coming prospects.

Still, his resume was pretty impressive.

Tillis vs Shavers, with Howard Cosell showing how blind he could be...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVIPDkOUfWE

[gilgamesh]

My knowledge is sadly lacking on a lot of crop of fighters from the 80's on back, the only fight I ever saw of Tillis was the Tyson fight, but he certainly didn't look like a joke in that one. He was first man to go the 10 round distance with Tyson, and I love the moment in the 3rd when Mike is all over him trying to KO him and Tillis just starts firing back with all he's got and makes Mike have to cool his jets a bit. Real good fight and a real good test for Mike at that time in his career. I'll have to look up more of Tillis' fights at some point.

[Rover]

My knowledge is sadly lacking on a lot of crop of fighters from the 80's on back, the only fight I ever saw of Tillis was the Tyson fight, but he certainly didn't look like a joke in that one. He was first man to go the 10 round distance with Tyson, and I love the moment in the 3rd when Mike is all over him trying to KO him and Tillis just starts firing back with all he's got and makes Mike have to cool his jets a bit. Real good fight and a real good test for Mike at that time in his career. I'll have to look up more of Tillis' fights at some point.

The Weaver fight was quite boring.

[gilgamesh]

My knowledge is sadly lacking on a lot of crop of fighters from the 80's on back, the only fight I ever saw of Tillis was the Tyson fight, but he certainly didn't look like a joke in that one. He was first man to go the 10 round distance with Tyson, and I love the moment in the 3rd when Mike is all over him trying to KO him and Tillis just starts firing back with all he's got and makes Mike have to cool his jets a bit. Real good fight and a real good test for Mike at that time in his career. I'll have to look up more of Tillis' fights at some point.

The Weaver fight was quite boring.

I never saw the Weaver fight, I was talking about the Tyson fight.

[Rover]

My knowledge is sadly lacking on a lot of crop of fighters from the 80's on back, the only fight I ever saw of Tillis was the Tyson fight, but he certainly didn't look like a joke in that one. He was first man to go the 10 round distance with Tyson, and I love the moment in the 3rd when Mike is all over him trying to KO him and Tillis just starts firing back with all he's got and makes Mike have to cool his jets a bit. Real good fight and a real good test for Mike at that time in his career. I'll have to look up more of Tillis' fights at some point.

The Weaver fight was quite boring.

I never saw the Weaver fight, I was talking about the Tyson fight.

I know, I was telling you so you would be on notice in case you run across it.

[loaded_gloves]

The Weaver fight is still worth watching. Tillis's fight with Greg Page is pretty thrilling.

Tillis released a autobiography named Thinking Big in 2000 which I ran out and got the day it came out. It's very entertaining!

[MEISINGER]

James Tillis,,,,,

A good fighter who was mentally weak.

If he only believed in himself,,,,,,,,,,,

i have to agree.the guy had talent

he was just not focussed or motivated

[Expug]

I knew Quick pretty well. I fought on a couple of his undercards in 1983. Ive sparred a few rounds with him also.
He is a real nice dude but of course I havent seen him in many years, We trained in the same gym and he was always fun to be around.
I remember when he fought a guy named Leroy Boone here in Chicago,I fought a couple fights before him on the card and my trainer and cut man worked Boones corner because he showed up without a corner crew.
I dont think Quick was really unmotivated or lackadaisical,he was just one of those good natured type of guys that seemed to not have that extra gear.
Make no mistake though,he was a real good fighter.
but yeah,I think he shoulda beat Weaver that night.

[Ambling Alp II]

That is pretty cool that you sparred with him.

He did have some ability; he was just a notch below the top guys of the 1980s. He was good enough to push them. He was actually in a lot of decent fights but would come up a little short. With a little luck he could have won a couple of times. Except for Holmes and Tyson, the other top guys in the 1980s were inconsistent, but seemed to be at the top of their game against Tillis.

For some reason I always think of the Page fight when I think of him. The fight was in primetime on ABC.
He decked Page, but Page came back and stopped him.

[MEISINGER]

Wasn't Tillis the first fighter to take Tyson the distance?

not only went the distance
but won a few rounds

[Dart340]

I was pretty bummed when he beat my hero "Roughhouse" Fischer on ESPN back in the day.
I thought, even then, that he was strangely content to lay back and win on points and might not have the killer instinct to break through to the final level.
Reading his book, he equates ex-manager Beau Williford to Satan Incarnate and as responsible for some of his worst matches there toward the end where he took some poundings.

[loaded_gloves]

Beau Williford did some extremely dubious things with Tillis. Versus Gary Mason he threw in the towel with no reason whatsoever in round 5.

It seemed a lot like there 'could' have been an agreement that Tillis won't go longer he did against Frank Bruno 1 or 2 years earlier as it would make Mason look bad. Tillis was also grossly out of shape for that one.

By the way, Expug it's always a pleasure to read your reminisces - how did you rate his punch power in sparring?

I would go along with the general consensus, Tillis for all his speed, talent and punch power didn't have that focus or mean streak that guys needed in those days to take them to the championship. He seems a fun jovial guy in his interviews and his book.

[MEISINGER]

Wasn't Tillis the first fighter to take Tyson the distance?

not only went the distance
but won a few rounds

Which is strange as I recall Tillis losing to an old and inactive Joe Bugner later that same year.

buster douglas said before the tyson fight
"tillis developed the game plan to beat tyson...now i am going to perfect it."

well i'll be damned he sure did

[wvboxer]

I never think of the heavyweights of the 80's as bad fighters. Everyone showed flashes of their talent but never put it together night in night out. I think the era suffered a bit because of the multiple titles & the fact there were so many pure boxers. Just not enough sluggers. Dokes, quick hands light puncher. Page, clever boxer. Tillis, good movement, clever boxer. Thomas, big jab. Tubbs, quick hands, clever boxer. See a pattern? Only Weaver, Coetzee, & Witherspoon were primarily punchers.

Tillis had tools but not the temperament I guess.

[polecateddy]

Difficult to say things panned out the way they did for the 80's guys. Maybe their apprenticeship was so hard - so many hard fights on the way up - they just lost their appetite when they arrived at championship level?

[MEISINGER]

Difficult to say things panned out the way they did for the 80's guys. Maybe their apprenticeship was so hard - so many hard fights on the way up - they just lost their appetite when they arrived at championship level?

that is an interesting theory.
it might have some truth to it.
all the fighters of the early 80's fought
each other.
it had to take some toll.

[Nile4000]

I never think of the heavyweights of the 80's as bad fighters. Everyone showed flashes of their talent but never put it together night in night out. I think the era suffered a bit because of the multiple titles & the fact there were so many pure boxers. Just not enough sluggers. Dokes, quick hands light puncher. Page, clever boxer. Tillis, good movement, clever boxer. Thomas, big jab. Tubbs, quick hands, clever boxer. See a pattern? Only Weaver, Coetzee, & Witherspoon were primarily punchers.

Tillis had tools but not the temperament I guess.

\

Page was fast also. James Tillis had good speed, good boxing ability, and could switch nice, but, as mentioned previously, probably didn't have that extra gear in addition to his allergy problem.He was lucky to be credited with a knockdown of Page when it was more of a push, but he could hit.And probably should've beaten Weaver.After 1983, was not more of a force.

[loaded_gloves]

A push?

He hurt Page. That was a big right hand.

[Nile4000]

A push?

He hurt Page. That was a big right hand.

It was a big right hand, very powerful.And Greg, himself, said that James hit like a mule.But, looking at the knockdown, it was more of a shove.

[Expug]

Beau Williford did some extremely dubious things with Tillis. Versus Gary Mason he threw in the towel with no reason whatsoever in round 5.

It seemed a lot like there 'could' have been an agreement that Tillis won't go longer he did against Frank Bruno 1 or 2 years earlier as it would make Mason look bad. Tillis was also grossly out of shape for that one.

By the way, Expug it's always a pleasure to read your reminisces - how did you rate his punch power in sparring?

I would go along with the general consensus, Tillis for all his speed, talent and punch power didn't have that focus or mean streak that guys needed in those days to take them to the championship. He seems a fun jovial guy in his interviews and his book.

Thank You,sorry it took a few days to respond. Been out of town.
He could punch real well when he set himself. In the gym,just like when he fought, he moved a lot.
I dont think I hit him with anything to be honest.At the time I was probably 190 and trying to get down to light heavy. I worked in with a couple other fighters in a rotation I think.

[giacomino]

Re-watching the 7th round of Pinklon Thomas-Tillis makes me long for the heavyweights of the 1980s. Wasn't a huge fan of them at the time, but there was a lot of talent in the division. I saw Thomas early in his career and thought he'd be a longtime champ

[dempseyfire]

Tillis had quick hands and under-rated power. He dropped a lot of guys in fights (Greg Page, Truth Williams, Mike Williams) only for him to peter out and get stopped himself. His fight with Page is one of my favorite HW fights of the 80s . . Page really looks in top form there.

I think the previous comments are spot on. Tillis just didn't have that extra "gear" the top fighters need to reach that elite level. It's a shame that in the second half of his career he became a gatekeeper level stepping stone. I remember perusing his autobiography in a bookstore, apparently he dated Jane Fonda for a while, which I had never known.

[Brutu]

His autobiography THINKIN BIG is kind of a strange read.
I think he just called his very black first wife Jane Fonda for some reason ,but I cant remember why.
I remember Quick Tillis played Oprah Winfrey's bf in the racoon coat
at the Juke joint in the movie THE COLOR PURPLE.

[Expug]

I remember when he first came to Chicago.
I was an amateur training at the old CYO gym on Jackson blvd in Chicago when he came in one day.
That was a great place man. Ams and pros trained there.The late Johnny Lira was another who worked out there.
Anyway,I'll always remember the first time I saw "Quick". This must have been around 78 or 79.
The guy when he moved around looked like the second coming of Ali he really did.great legs,lightning fast hands,tremendous shape,he seemed like he couldnt miss.
Again, he was always a fun upbeat guy too. lots of personality.
Those were really great times in boxing.That gym,that era,the whole bit. Somehow it seems like yesterday and 100 years ago at the same time.
After the CYO closed alot of the same fighters moved over to another gym at Division and Damen called the US Arena. Tillis worked out there too and thats where he and Frank Bruno had a real good afternoon sparring session when Frank came to Chicago with Barry Mcguigan to fight at the old Divinci Manor.
Funny story about that old gym. Now I work as head of security for the Chicago Blackhawks and last year the NHL network did a story on Patrick Kane. They followed him around for a day and a half for a tv broadcast and I went with. We went to a bar/restaurant on the west side to watch a bear game for the show and it wasnt until about a month later that I realized that we were right next door to the old US Arena.It was now an upscale night club and the neighborhood was so gentrified I didnt know where I was. Different times for sure.